I demystify finances for 7 & 8 figure business owners | Founder @ Celerity Accounting | Top 100 Proadvisor 2024

I’m Tailor Hartman, founder and CEO of Celerity Accounting.

We’re a fractional accounting and advisory firm for 7 and 8-figure businesses using NetSuite and QuickBooks Online.

If your books are messy, your reports are unclear, or you’re scaling fast without the right financial visibility, we’re the team that fixes it.

A few milestones along the way:

- Named one of CPA Practice Advisor’s “40 Under 40 CPAs in the Profession” 
- Built Celerity from a solo operation into a trusted partner for $5–50M businesses.
- Launched a modern firm owner newsletter called "The Net Effect" for accountants

We partner with e-commerce, manufacturing, and other growth-minded companies to turn chaos into clarity.

Because accounting shouldn’t just be about compliance. It should be a system that drives better decisions, faster growth, and fewer surprises.

At Celerity, we don’t just clean up your numbers. We own the outcome. That means clear communication, controller-level oversight, and real partnership.

If your NetSuite or QBO setup isn’t doing its job, let’s fix it.

Happy to connect and share what we’ve learned!

Email: info@celerity.io
X: @tailor_hartman
https://linktr.ee/tailorh

Tailor Hartman

Reflecting on Celerity Accounting's 4th anniversary this week.

I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve built. The team. The clients. The impact.

To me, year 4 was the year we decided which lane to be in.

- We leaned fully into NetSuite.
- We committed to the mid-market.
- We stopped trying to be everything to everyone.

In the first three years, we rarely said no.

In year four, we said no every single week.

And that changed so much for the firm.

- Better alignment.
- Stronger clients.
- Clearer positioning.

We're more focused than ever. 
Here's to a more intentional 5th year!

P.S. thanks Miggy's Bakes for the incredible cake!

Founder @ Celerity | Building the modern NetSuite accounting firm for mid-market companies

Celerity Accounting turned 4!

What started as a side gig to pay off student loans has grown into a modern, mid-market focused accounting firm serving dozens of amazing companies across the US. 

Over the past four years, we’ve:

• Built a team that values relationships and results
• Helped growing companies strengthen their financial infrastructure
• Focused on continuous improvement both for our clients and ourselves.

To our clients, partners, and team members: thank you for trusting us and growing alongside us.

Here's to making year 5 the best year yet!

Here's a new job posting for Celerity Accounting for a NetSuite Accountant.

 Know anyone who might be interested?

Apply below ⬇️

Bringing clarity, speed & automation to $5–50M SMBs | Founder @ Celerity

I had to stop thinking like an accountant to grow my firm.

For most of my career, my job was simple: make sure the numbers were right.

That’s what we’re trained to do as accountants.

But running a firm forces you to think differently.

At some point, you stop being just an accountant and become a full-time operator.

Accounting optimizes for accuracy.
And accuracy is a lagging signal.

It rewards you for being right after the fact.

But growing a firm depends on being early enough to act.

By the time something is fully accurate, the decision window is usually gone.

That’s the difference.

An accountant focuses on what happened.
An operator cares about what’s happening and what’s about to happen.

An accountant is comfortable once the month is closed.
An operator is uneasy if they can’t see what’s happening mid-month.

An accountant protects the integrity of the numbers.
An operator protects the business from surprises.

Accounting thinking is designed to explain outcomes while operating thinking is designed to shape them.

Both are necessary.
Only one grows the firm.

That doesn’t mean accounting is wrong.

It means the role changes.

Because the business changes.

And eventually, you have to change with it.

Looking for an opportunity at a great place to work?

We’re looking for someone who:
- Thinks beyond debits and credits
- Likes improving systems
- Loves helping people
- Has experience in Netsuite

If you know of someone or if that's you, here's the link to apply --> https://bit.ly/4qZOC6W

Looking for a new role?

If you have experience with:
- Netsuite
- Working with clients
- Month-end Accounting

Please apply here --> https://bit.ly/4qZOC6W

You were hired to do the accounting.

But that’s rarely where it stops.

You start by cleaning up the books.

Then you realize data is flowing between systems without controls. Sales updates forecasts manually at month end. Reporting depends on one person’s spreadsheet.

So you step in.

You redesign a workflow.
You help formalize compensation logic.
You suggest a better approval structure.

This is the part most firms pretend isn’t happening.

We say we’re “just doing accounting.”

But modern CAS, especially in mid-market companies, inevitably touches operations.

The numbers are downstream from the process.

If the process is fragile, the reporting will be too.

So the real question isn’t whether this work shows up.

It will.

The question is whether you treat it as accidental scope creep.

Or you acknowledge it and design your firm around it intentionally.

Modern accounting doesn’t stay in its lane.

It can’t.

Reliable financials require reliable operations. 

And that work doesn’t happen by accident.

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Accountants overestimate the risk of starting their own firm and underestimate the risk of staying where they are.

A defined role feels stable.
A steady paycheck feels safe.
A clear promotion track feels predictable.

But none of those things are guaranteed.

What is guaranteed?

You already have marketable skills.

You know how to manage deadlines. How to communicate with clients. How to solve financial problems under pressure.

Starting your own firm isn’t some irreversible leap.

It’s a test.

You take on a few clients, see if you enjoy it, learn what you’re missing, and adjust.

If it works, you build something on your terms.

If it doesn’t, you get another job.

When I left, I didn’t have a brand, a niche, or a scalable lead engine. I had experience and the willingness to figure it out.

That was enough.

If you’ve built real skills and have even a modest financial runway, the downside is smaller than you think.

Bet on yourself.

Worst case?
You go back to a job.

Best case?
You build the firm you’ve always wanted to work for.

That’s a bet worth making.

—

PS - If you're an accountant or firm owner looking for real-world insights, relevant news, and useful tech recommendations, check out my free newsletter: https://lnkd.in/gDv-_Fpw

We’re publishing our first guest edition of The Net Effect on Monday and it's with Tom Zehentner, CPA!

He wrote about:
– Being social on social media
– Why cringe is the cost of opportunity
– How to post in a way that doesn’t feel manufactured

If you write online(or want to), you’ll like this one.

Don't miss it! 

https://lnkd.in/gDv-_Fpw

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QuickBooks Online Certification Level 1

QuickBooks Certified ProAdvisor

Certified Public Accountant

QuickBooks Online

Learn how to automate the accounting for your small business with this guide

How to Elevate & Automate your Accounting

I demystify finances for $5-50M SMBs | Founder @ Celerity Accounting | 40 under 40 CPA

My name is Tailor Hartman. I am the founder and CEO of Celerity Accounting, a fractional accounting & advisory firm for 7 & 8 figure businesses using QuickBooks Online or NetSuite. I am also an:

- Accounting Instructor
- 40 Under 40 CPA's in the Profession - CPA Practice Advisor
- Business accounting writer/content creator


Interested in hearing more? Let's chat!

Email: info@celerity.io
X: @tailor_hartman
https://linktr.ee/tailorh

Book a Consultation Call

Helped sort food and answer phones to raise food and money to feed those who cannot afford food. 

QuickBooks is better with FinOptimal.

I just took the Working Genius assessment.

It breaks work into 6 stages:

1. Wonder - identifying problems
2. Invention - generating ideas
3. Discernment - evaluating what will work
4. Galvanizing - driving action
5. Enablement - supporting execution
6. Tenacity - finishing and ensuring completion

It’s designed to show which types of tasks give you energy and which ones drain it.

For me, coming up with ideas and evaluating them feels natural.

Driving every detail to completion? Not so much.

I can still do it but it just costs more energy.

Where this gets interesting is at the team level.

A lot of what we call “misalignment” is really energy mismatch.

One person is wired to question and invent. Another is wired to push things across the finish line.

If you expect everyone to thrive in every stage, you create unnecessary friction.

The more clearly you understand:

• What energizes you
• What drains you
• And who naturally complements you

The easier it is to design roles around strengths instead of trying to make everyone good at everything.

Highly recommend taking it if you have a team.

—

PS - If you're an accountant or firm owner looking for real-world insights, relevant news, and useful tech recommendations, check out my free newsletter: https://lnkd.in/gDv-_Fpw

I care more about taste than tactics.

Tactics are visible.

• New niche
• New service lines
• New pricing model

You can point to them, market them, sell them.

Taste is invisible.

When I look at the firms I actually respect, it’s not their tactics that stand out.

It’s what they say no to.

They don’t do everything.
They don’t chase every client.
They don’t say yes just to protect revenue.

They’ve decided who they are (and who they aren’t).

That’s taste.

• Saying no to work you could technically do
• Telling a client you’re not the right firm for that
• Raising prices instead of adding more to justify them

Anyone can learn tactics.

Very few people develop judgment.

Software will change.
Rules will change.
AI will automate the mechanics.

But knowing what to leave out? What to simplify? What to refuse?

That’s the real differentiator.

I don’t want to win because we do more.

I want to win because we are better at what we do.

If your financials are slow, you’re spending 95% of the time guessing.

This is something I’ve noticed over and over again working with growing companies.

The businesses that scale smoothly don’t magically have a better strategy.

What they have is a faster feedback loop.

They know revenue is down by the second week, not at the end of the month.

They know spend is running hot by day 10, not when the P&L shows up.

They catch working capital tightening during the month, not once vendors are calling.

That changes how the business feels day to day.

The companies that struggle usually aren’t careless or poorly run.

They’re just late.

Late to notice.
Late to react.
Late to adjust.

And when feedback shows up late, every decision turns reactive by default.

So the real question isn’t, “How do we scale faster?”

It’s, “How quickly do we find out when something is off?”

That comes down to cadence.

If you only review revenue, spend, and cash after the month closes, you’re always looking in the rearview mirror.

As you scale, the goal isn’t to eliminate 100% of problems.

That’s unrealistic.

The goal is to shrink the gap between what’s happening and when you can see it.

That gap is the difference between guessing and actually being in control.

This is live!

Check it out here --> https://lnkd.in/gFRdG55T

Fractional CFO & Business Coach to AMBITIOUS software dev agency owners | Build your dream business without selling your soul to VCs | I offer a course for beginners to learn DIY bookkeeping | 😎 Girl dad

Digital agencies are brutal 😩




What other business deals with as many feast & famine cycles?

🙅‍♂️None🙅‍♂️

It is an easy model to start…
…but requires balls of steel to endure.


Here are THREE questions to ponder:

1️⃣ Does my accountant know how to keep me in the game?

2️⃣ Are they giving me the advice I need to grow without dying of revenue indigestion?

3️⃣ Have they helped me plan my exit?



Be real with yourself.

If you answered “no” to all three…
you’re playing with fire. 🔥 

Agency work is tough as it is.

Get the right advisor in your corner.


There is a light at the end of this tunnel.

It’s up to you whether it’s
blue sunny skies ☀️ 
or a train 🚂 

taplio

The Battle

Tailor Hartman

Tony Wilson, CPA, CMA

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taplio

The Battle

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Tony Wilson, CPA, CMA

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

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